


Bite Your Tongue

by ylzzirf



Category: Original Work
Genre: Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:06:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24705802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ylzzirf/pseuds/ylzzirf
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Bite Your Tongue

One weekend, our family had the privilege of wandering around a nearly empty zoo. We were, in fact, the only family in the big cat enclosure. One of the handlers noticed this. We were invited inside the cat house, with its rows of cages, on the condition that no one would find out about our visit. Naturally, we agreed.

The handler led us over to a drooling jaguar. The cat, they said, slobbered incessantly. He was missing part of his tongue and couldn’t hold his mouth shut. The injury was self-inflicted. 

The jaguar couldn’t leave his partner alone. He was an aggressive pest. She finally had enough. The next time he got in her face — quite literally — she rose up, lunged at him, and bit a chunk out of his tongue.

Years later, I was sent to the same zoo, on a paid gig, to take photographs of the animals. I dropped by the same enclosure. I saw the jaguar sleeping peacefully in a tree. The eyes, and the mouth, were tightly shut. 

She was at ease.


End file.
